Skepta GB

Pohoda 2019 will feature also the British MC/rapper and the grime star, Skepta. He and his brother Jamie (Jme) founded collective and label Boy Better Know. They also collaborated on the latest album, Konnichiwa, for which he was awarded the Mercury Prize (leaving behind Radiohead and David Bowie), and Apple Music editors labelled it the album of the year 2016. In recent years he has collaborated with Dreake and Pharell Williams, and he also features on A$AP Rockyʼs hit “Praise the Lord (Da Shine)”. At the ranker.com portal, Skepta is on the top of The Best British Rappers of All Time and The Best Grime Artists charts. He will show the reason why to the visitors of Pohoda 2019 on Thursday night at the main stage.

From the streets of Tottenham to the sunny side

Joseph Junior Adenuga, a son of immigrants from Nigeria, began as a DJ in the grime collective Meridian Crew. Alongside his brother Jamie, he then joined Roll Deep collective to later become founding members of collective and label Boy Better Know. Under this label, Skepta released his first mixtape entitled Joseph Junior Adenuga and in 2007 his debut studio album Greatest Hits. Album Microphone Champion followed in 2009 and in 2011, he released his third album, Doin’ It Again, for which he was nominated for the BET Awards. In 2014, he released the song “That’s Not Me”, and the single’s music video won the award for Best Video at the 2014 MOBO Awards. Skepta said that the video cost him £80 only. At that time he also collaborated with Flatbush Zombies (on the track “Red Eye to Paris”) and Drake on the remix of Wizkid’s song “Ojuelegba”. He claims himself to be a social activist rather than a rapper. His status of an extraordinarily influential activist is also confirmed by his appearance on the Debrett’s 2017 list, according to which he is one of the 30 most influential people of the British music industry (the list includes names such as Adele, Chris Martin, Simon Cowell, Ed Sheeran, Mark Ronson, agent Emma Banks, ans also his sister Julie Adenuga—a radio Beats 1 DJ).

The very much appreciated album Konnichiwa

The release of the fourth album was rescheduled several times, but it was worth the waiting. The fourth studio album Konnichiwa was released in May 2016, and featured hits such as “That’s Not Me”, “Shutdown”, and “Man” that made it peak at number 2 in the UK music charts. Skepta used the DIY approach and produced the album almost all by himself, but Pharrell Williams was involved in the song “Numbers”. Louis Pattison of NME rated it 5 stars out of 5 and wrote: “Konnichiwa is a landmark in British street music that takes on the world without compromising one inch of its grime core.” Besides the award for the music video “That’s Not Me”, he also won the MOBO Award for song “Shutdown”. Skepta was awarded the Mercury Prize for the album and the same year, he won was Bet Awards (Best International Act: UK) and NME Awards (Best British Male). At Ivor Novello Awards, he won the award for the songwriter of the year, and, along with Josh Homme, the award for the best song, “Man”. Liam Gallagher praised Skepta as he tweeted: “Man like Skepta keeping it real. Got to stand for something.” His grime collective Boy Better Know won the Innovation Award at the NME Awards 2018. In October 2017, he released EP Vicious with songs featuring A$AP Rocky, Lil B, and Section Boyz. He also collaborated on A$AP Rocky’s hit “Praise the Lord (Da Shine)”, which has nearly 130 million views on YouTube. Just a few days ago, he recorded diss track “Wish You Were Here” in which he fires shorts at “ex-colleague” Wiley. This summer, he will appear as a headliner at the Melt, Forbidden Fruit, and Filed Day festivals. Having previously announced The Roots, Glab, and Čavlenky, we are delighted to have also Skepta please the fans of rap music at Pohoda 2019.